Moments later, the man appeared from the corner, naked, wearing a gray coat, swinging his shoulders, carrying a heavy leather bag, and holding a tall man Qi Mu’s staff in his hand. He bowed his head and strode forward, and the wooden staff lit it like an ancient monk. When he approached, Inman saw that his face was still bruised in many places, and his lips were bruised in yellow and green. A crack was almost healed with a black scar. Rabbit lips were almost bare, and his scalp was bare with a pinch of yellow hair. The place where there was no hair was a long scar in the east and west. His belly was flat and his waistband was so wrinkled that a piece of rope was tied tightly. When he raised his blue eyes from the ground, Inman immediately saw that he was the priest despite so many terrible scars.
Inman straightened up from behind the trunk and said hello.
The priest stopped and looked over. Oh, my God, he said I was looking for you.
Inman drew his sword and casually held it in his hand. He said to him, You came to get revenge on me. I don’t even have a bullet, so I can chop you up.
Oh, no, I want to thank you for saving me from committing an unforgivable crime.
Just walk this far. Tell me this.
You’ve become an exile even if I’m not on my way, but I may be premature. As the saying goes, all roads are not pilgrims, not to mention that. Where are you going?
Inman looked at the priest. What happened to your face? He asked.
You left me there until people found out that I had read your note again, and then a gang led by deacon johnstone untied me from the tree and beat me up. They threw my clothes into the river and cut off my hair with a knife. I don’t think they understood the story of Samson Delilah. At this moment, my fiancee came to spit on me and said that she was grateful to the Almighty for letting her have no last name, Weixi, and I was helpless. They refused to give me an hour to pick up things and told me to get out of town at once, otherwise they would hang me naked at the church spire.
That’s true. What did Inman say about the other woman
Oh, Laura Foest Weixi said that they dragged her here to force her to take her place, but she still didn’t understand what was going on. After the fact of illegal pregnancy was confirmed, she would be reprimanded by the church for a while, and it would take about a year to repent and atone. This leaves people talking nonsense. In another three or two years, she will find an old bachelor to marry. A woman who is good-looking doesn’t mind raising an illegitimate child. We will let her every cloud has a silver lining, and I have left her fiancee behind.
Until now, I’m not sure if I did the right thing to keep you alive, Inman said.
Then he went back to the road without saying anything else, but the priest followed him every step of the way.
You seem to be going west. If you don’t mind, I’ll go with you, he said
Actually, I mind Inman saying that he doesn’t think he’s alone with fools.
As soon as he raised his arm, he tried to backhand the priest, but the priest didn’t run away or fight back. He didn’t even raise his wooden stick to block the way. On the contrary, he winced and hunched like a frightened dog, ready to take the blow, so Inman thought that since he was too lazy to drive him away, he would better go ahead and see.
Vichy clung to Inman’s side and kept saying that his performance should be to find a companion. It seems that he intends to unload all the things in his previous life on Inman’s head. Every time he makes a mistake, he has to share it with Inman many times. He is a very bad priest, and even he knows it.
I was a terrible pastor in every way except preaching, which was my specialty. He said that I saved more souls than your fingers and toes combined, but now I have sworn off this job and am going to Texas to start all over again.
Many people think so.
In the Book of Judges, there is a time when there is no law in Israel, and everyone goes his own way. I heard that Texas is the same. It is a land of land.
That’s what they say, Inman. What are you going to do there, farm?
Oh, it’s impossible. I haven’t decided what to do because I lack food from the soil. I don’t have any definite plans. It’s also possible that I just occupy a piece of land as big as a county and herd cattle in the end. You can walk on their backs for a day without touching their feet, said Weixi
So what are you going to buy your first pair of cattle with?
That’s it.
Vichy put his hand into his coat and drew a colt revolver, which he stole when he left the village.
I may be able to become a minor celebrity gunman, he said
Where did you get the gun? Inman asked
Old John Si Tong’s wife felt sorry for me when she learned about this. When she saw me hiding in the bushes, she told me to go to her window and go back to the bedroom to get my rags. At this time, I saw a pistol at the dining table reaching in through the window and throwing it into the grass. When I got dressed, I secretly picked it up and took it away.
He sounded like a kid who stole someone’s pie and put it on the windowsill.
That’s how the idea of being a gunman came about, he continued. This thing will make you think involuntarily.
He held the colt in front of him and studied it carefully, as if he wanted to see his future from the shiny chamber.
I was lucky in foraging that afternoon, because Inman Weixi found an abandoned house in an oak forest not far away, and its doorway window was also broken. The yard was full of weeds, luxuriant myrtle flowers and burdock Indian tobacco. Around the house, there were beehives, some hearts, black rubber trunks, and some holes were drilled after the compass was positioned. Others were dry straw, and the color was gray, like an old thatched cottage, and the top had collapsed, although no one looked after the bees.
We got one of the boxes of honey. It was a delicious meal, said Weixi.
Then do it, Inman said
I can’t stand bee stings. Vichy said I’d swell up and told me to run into them. That’s no good.
But you can eat honey, but I have to get it, right?
Eating honey will make people feel satisfied and even walk hard.
Inman method refuted this view, so he rolled up his sleeves, stuffed his trouser legs into the boots and wrapped his head tightly, leaving a gap to watch the road. He went to the beehive, took off the lid, reached in and grabbed the honey with pieces of beehive into the jar until the jar was full and overflowed from the side. He moved slowly and never got stung.
Inman Weixi sat on the porch and the jar was placed between the two of them, spooning honey. The color of honey was as black as coffee. All kinds of nectar were mixed together, and there were many bee wings in it. Because no one came for a long time, it was somewhat condensed. Of course, his father followed wild bees to collect pure chestnut nectar from tree hives. Compared with honey here, Inman Weixi still ate it with relish. Inman picked up a hive from the jar and took a bite.